What to do, what to do....

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What to do, what to do....

For the last two years, I've wanted to be either a webmaster or a computer programmer. I've gone from Javascript to advanced C++ and game programming in an extremely short amount of time, and I think I've gotten relatively good at it. Lately, however, I've gotten into a new hobby: languages. I'm learning Russian, planning to learn German next, and I just saw The Last Samurai so now I want to learn Japanese . This seems like a strange question to me, but I'll throw it out here anyway: is there any good field where computer sciences and linguistics meet, or am I stuck at a fork in the road with no third path? Thanks for any ideas !

Actually you are not alone. A large chunk of computer programmers (including myself) are very highly interested in learning foreign languages because it is very similar to learning a new computer language like C++, Java, BASIC, Pascal, or Cobol.

Also, if you really want to do a mix of linguistics and programming, you could work on some phonetics program or something that recognizes or recreates some phonetic sounds.

I'm sure there is a need for bilingual programmers... although, for the most part, code is written in english... the need for someone like yourself would come in when a firm that doesn't speak english needs a programmer. You could translate their thoughts into programs.

I think what DavidP was getting at is that the same trait that allows many to learn multiple programming languages is the same trait that allows people to learn foreign languages.

I think to some degree it is true but I know for me learning english properly is hard enough, learning a foreign language is going to take me a lot of work. But learning another programming language is cake.

For the last two years, I've wanted to be either a webmaster or a computer programmer. I've gone from Javascript to advanced C++ and game programming in an extremely short amount of time, and I think I've gotten relatively good at it. Lately, however, I've gotten into a new hobby: languages. I'm learning Russian, planning to learn German next, and I just saw The Last Samurai so now I want to learn Japanese . This seems like a strange question to me, but I'll throw it out here anyway: is there any good field where computer sciences and linguistics meet, or am I stuck at a fork in the road with no third path? Thanks for any ideas !

Obviously there is a field involving programming and languages and it's a fairly obvious one..

Interpritation. Write a program that interprits words from one language to another. My try it with words are first, but definatly move onto voice analysis and doing it phonetically as already mentioned.